anthropology and breast milk
i can't believe i haven't posted about anything school-related since i got back from winter break. considering how much i miss my home friends, i re-adjusted incredibly quickly to nyu/nyc life, as though i hadn't left at all. i keep a list of things to write about in the back of my agenda, but it's grown long and out of order.
"spring" semester is already much better than fall, if for no other reason than lunch. having weekly lunch dates with some of my favorite people that i met last semester makes me feel so much more included and wanted, and it's like i always have something to fall back on. it's a wonderful feeling. it's also a welcome change to actually LIKE all of my classes: human society and culture (aka anthropology), oral history and interdisciplinary arts, art and the city: a sociological perspective, writers as shapers (aka creative writing), and intro to the galleries and museums of new york. it's a lot of work since i'm taking a few extra credits, but it's all so relevant to what i want to do that i barely care.
speaking of anthropology class, we have to do a fieldwork project over the course of the semester in which we pick a place in the city to visit once a week or so--hanging out, interviewing people, and "determining the unspoken rules" and "what constitutes the appropriate in the given setting". i chose revolution books, a communist bookstore, just because i think that'd be a pretty fascinating place to study. i was nervous for no reason the first time i went, to ask their permission to do the project, but they were very friendly. they also give long, uncalled for, but interesting speeches about communism. one of the most ironic almost-conversations i ever had with anyone was that first day, when the main guy, jeff, was musing over whether to give me permission or not. he interrupted his reverie to push towards me a flyer of their upcoming events. "you should come this tuesday, it's going to be a really great event!" he said enthusiastically, as i read the description: "AWAY WITH GODS: what is religion? why is it unnecessary? how could the world be a better place without religion?" i didn't have the heart to tell him that i couldn't come because the time overlapped with my jewish learning fellowship meeting.
speaking of which (i'm getting so good at these segues!), the fellowship has been really interesting and nice. i thought that the fact that i'm catholic was something i could keep secret until a time that i could spring it on them all, but it is proving exceedingly difficult to do so, especially when questions posed in our discussion groups run along the lines of, "how does what rabbi sarna was saying relate to you as a jew?" the good thing is that whenever people find out that i'm not jewish, it's never really been awkward, more like a state of reciprocal fascination: i'm fascinated by them, and they're fascinated by the fact that i'm there with them. this past weekend, i had to participate in a number of shabbat activities (just once over the course of the fellowship), and it was really, really nice to explicitly set aside a day of the week to just eat together and pray and sing and light candles and play with the rabbi's impossibly adorable children and be glad that the guy standing behind me sings hebrew loudly enough that no one can hear me messing up. i know that i'm supposed to rest on sunday as a christian, but somehow it's not the same thing. you go to church, and that's usually it. i should get better at that.
the rest of my days have been punctuated by random and apparently memorable things like a scholars lecture on feminism (the speaker said she doubted "anyone in the audience would call themselves a feminist", but i would call myself one, so i was a little ticked off at that), my first visit to the top of the empire state building (i figured i should get up there since the main character of a short story i was writing worked on the observatory deck), a dangerbox show that everyone agreed was their best yet (followed by everyone cramming onto anna and emily's beds at carlyle to hang out), an intensely crowded party at raph's apartment that i mostly spent lounging on the bed with (at one point) a dozen others (while ben got pantsed), two nosebleeds at really bad times (one during said pantsing, one during lunch with a friend i hadn't seen in a month), continued editing meetings at the Met (they're done! time for the graphic design intern to make a storyboard), seeing victoria and lauren and lucas and alex at mannes, visiting the disney store, being disappointed that they didn't have robin hood stuff, getting an unexpected supply of freshly-baked cupcakes (delivered personally by the children of the family in the apartment next to mine), eating vegetable yakisoba with nick and katie at different times, getting five minutes into watching "fiddler on the roof" at home with my mom before the electricity went out for five hours, interviewing my grandma for oral history class, realizing from her enthusiasm and gratitude that she really wanted someone to listen to her life story, watching the superbowl at nick and anna's apartment (only to realize in the last two minutes that i had been watching the wrong team the whole time), seeing "atonement" and thinking it was probably the saddest movie ever (even though i disliked keira knightley's character), wondering why walking around manhattan with "all these things that i've done" playing in my ipod makes me feel invincible, being presented with a free copy of a book on contemporary issues in curating when the lady behind the desk at the art gallery saw me leafing through the display copy (i was genuinely interested!), finally getting snow that sticks in inches and quiets everything (even broadway--the road, that is), discovering through their individual evaluation letters that my writing class and professor genuinely like my story, and feeling like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. it made my day.
on a more random note, my suitemate helene had a friend stay over last week. the friend was auditioning for the part of elle woods in "legally blonde" on broadway, and she just got another callback. so you never know!
almost-lastly, the best thing that happened this week went like this: friday night, i got back from shabbat stuff around 10 pm to find my suitemate christine and a friend of hers about to leave for a nada surf concert. i love the few nada surf songs that i know, so i changed out of my shabbat clothes and headed over to the bowery ballroom, where we stood shivering in the cold for a few seconds, wondering how i could buy a ticket illegally from one of the few people still standing outside (christine and her friend already had tickets). christine's friend shouted, "anybody have an extra ticket?!" and this young man--late twenties, i guess--came over, saying he had an "extra plus one".
"what does that mean?" i asked, because i'm stupid.
"it means i have a plus one guest ticket that i'm not using."
"oh cool! so, uh, how much do you want for it?" i took out my wallet.
"oh, no," he said, sounding confused, "it's a plus one. i didn't pay anything for it, so neither do you. i just have to put you on the guest list. what's your name?"
it was as easy and generous as that. i saw him again inside, thanked him again, he said, "no problem", and that was it. no creepiness, no selfisness, no lies. he restored my faith in humanity.
i think i will end on a couple of accidentally-perverted things, said at the peer health exchange meeting last night:
some girl in PHE, after someone complained that the ninth grade students usually have a hard time identifying "genital-to-genital contact" as the fourth way to contract an STI: yeah, dan and i would know, because we do genital-to-genital contact--i mean--
(LATER) some other girl in PHE, giving constructive feedback on how the educators handled off-topic questions during their sample lesson: yeah, that was really good, the way you handled my breast milk--i mean, my breast milk question--
"spring" semester is already much better than fall, if for no other reason than lunch. having weekly lunch dates with some of my favorite people that i met last semester makes me feel so much more included and wanted, and it's like i always have something to fall back on. it's a wonderful feeling. it's also a welcome change to actually LIKE all of my classes: human society and culture (aka anthropology), oral history and interdisciplinary arts, art and the city: a sociological perspective, writers as shapers (aka creative writing), and intro to the galleries and museums of new york. it's a lot of work since i'm taking a few extra credits, but it's all so relevant to what i want to do that i barely care.
speaking of anthropology class, we have to do a fieldwork project over the course of the semester in which we pick a place in the city to visit once a week or so--hanging out, interviewing people, and "determining the unspoken rules" and "what constitutes the appropriate in the given setting". i chose revolution books, a communist bookstore, just because i think that'd be a pretty fascinating place to study. i was nervous for no reason the first time i went, to ask their permission to do the project, but they were very friendly. they also give long, uncalled for, but interesting speeches about communism. one of the most ironic almost-conversations i ever had with anyone was that first day, when the main guy, jeff, was musing over whether to give me permission or not. he interrupted his reverie to push towards me a flyer of their upcoming events. "you should come this tuesday, it's going to be a really great event!" he said enthusiastically, as i read the description: "AWAY WITH GODS: what is religion? why is it unnecessary? how could the world be a better place without religion?" i didn't have the heart to tell him that i couldn't come because the time overlapped with my jewish learning fellowship meeting.
speaking of which (i'm getting so good at these segues!), the fellowship has been really interesting and nice. i thought that the fact that i'm catholic was something i could keep secret until a time that i could spring it on them all, but it is proving exceedingly difficult to do so, especially when questions posed in our discussion groups run along the lines of, "how does what rabbi sarna was saying relate to you as a jew?" the good thing is that whenever people find out that i'm not jewish, it's never really been awkward, more like a state of reciprocal fascination: i'm fascinated by them, and they're fascinated by the fact that i'm there with them. this past weekend, i had to participate in a number of shabbat activities (just once over the course of the fellowship), and it was really, really nice to explicitly set aside a day of the week to just eat together and pray and sing and light candles and play with the rabbi's impossibly adorable children and be glad that the guy standing behind me sings hebrew loudly enough that no one can hear me messing up. i know that i'm supposed to rest on sunday as a christian, but somehow it's not the same thing. you go to church, and that's usually it. i should get better at that.
the rest of my days have been punctuated by random and apparently memorable things like a scholars lecture on feminism (the speaker said she doubted "anyone in the audience would call themselves a feminist", but i would call myself one, so i was a little ticked off at that), my first visit to the top of the empire state building (i figured i should get up there since the main character of a short story i was writing worked on the observatory deck), a dangerbox show that everyone agreed was their best yet (followed by everyone cramming onto anna and emily's beds at carlyle to hang out), an intensely crowded party at raph's apartment that i mostly spent lounging on the bed with (at one point) a dozen others (while ben got pantsed), two nosebleeds at really bad times (one during said pantsing, one during lunch with a friend i hadn't seen in a month), continued editing meetings at the Met (they're done! time for the graphic design intern to make a storyboard), seeing victoria and lauren and lucas and alex at mannes, visiting the disney store, being disappointed that they didn't have robin hood stuff, getting an unexpected supply of freshly-baked cupcakes (delivered personally by the children of the family in the apartment next to mine), eating vegetable yakisoba with nick and katie at different times, getting five minutes into watching "fiddler on the roof" at home with my mom before the electricity went out for five hours, interviewing my grandma for oral history class, realizing from her enthusiasm and gratitude that she really wanted someone to listen to her life story, watching the superbowl at nick and anna's apartment (only to realize in the last two minutes that i had been watching the wrong team the whole time), seeing "atonement" and thinking it was probably the saddest movie ever (even though i disliked keira knightley's character), wondering why walking around manhattan with "all these things that i've done" playing in my ipod makes me feel invincible, being presented with a free copy of a book on contemporary issues in curating when the lady behind the desk at the art gallery saw me leafing through the display copy (i was genuinely interested!), finally getting snow that sticks in inches and quiets everything (even broadway--the road, that is), discovering through their individual evaluation letters that my writing class and professor genuinely like my story, and feeling like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. it made my day.
on a more random note, my suitemate helene had a friend stay over last week. the friend was auditioning for the part of elle woods in "legally blonde" on broadway, and she just got another callback. so you never know!
almost-lastly, the best thing that happened this week went like this: friday night, i got back from shabbat stuff around 10 pm to find my suitemate christine and a friend of hers about to leave for a nada surf concert. i love the few nada surf songs that i know, so i changed out of my shabbat clothes and headed over to the bowery ballroom, where we stood shivering in the cold for a few seconds, wondering how i could buy a ticket illegally from one of the few people still standing outside (christine and her friend already had tickets). christine's friend shouted, "anybody have an extra ticket?!" and this young man--late twenties, i guess--came over, saying he had an "extra plus one".
"what does that mean?" i asked, because i'm stupid.
"it means i have a plus one guest ticket that i'm not using."
"oh cool! so, uh, how much do you want for it?" i took out my wallet.
"oh, no," he said, sounding confused, "it's a plus one. i didn't pay anything for it, so neither do you. i just have to put you on the guest list. what's your name?"
it was as easy and generous as that. i saw him again inside, thanked him again, he said, "no problem", and that was it. no creepiness, no selfisness, no lies. he restored my faith in humanity.
i think i will end on a couple of accidentally-perverted things, said at the peer health exchange meeting last night:
some girl in PHE, after someone complained that the ninth grade students usually have a hard time identifying "genital-to-genital contact" as the fourth way to contract an STI: yeah, dan and i would know, because we do genital-to-genital contact--i mean--
(LATER) some other girl in PHE, giving constructive feedback on how the educators handled off-topic questions during their sample lesson: yeah, that was really good, the way you handled my breast milk--i mean, my breast milk question--